Stranger to Brothers
by Casteline
Summary: No matter what has happened in the past, Peter and Gabriel are brothers. Spoilers up through 3x9 It's 'Coming'. This can be seen as just a brotherly thing, and if you would like it to remain that way, don't read the sequel, it'll be slashy :
1. chapter 1

I do not own.

Strangers to Brothers and its sequel, Enemies to Lovers, was inspired by the song 'Without You Here' by the Goo Goo Dolls. There is a line in the song that goes 'Strangers into lovers and enemies to brothers' which I felt was very fitting based on recent events, but I flipped two words around in the titles because, well, it just made more sense.

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**Strangers to Bothers**

It's the strangest thing. A week ago, the idea of a brother was completely foreign to him. Two brothers actually. They'd been his enemy for so long, and now he finds out, they are his brothers?

It's sick really.

The idea that he could ever become _close_ with the Petrellis was absolutely preposterous. Even just befriending one was absurd.

But when he realizes what's happening… the thing that shocks him the most…

Is that he isn't even really bothered.

He loves his brother.

Their father is a ruthless, evil, vile bastard.

Of course, Gabriel realizes he is no better.

But when he finds out what his father, his real father, has done… he knows he can't forgive him.

But he stays.

He uses his powers to shove Peter out the window.

But he isn't his father. He may be an evil, vile, ruthless bastard.

But he is not his father.

Saving his brother is easy.

Making himself look as evil as his father isn't as easy, especially after the powerless Peter has fallen 14 stories, hit the ground, then got up and walked away.

He is aware that his father suspects. But he doesn't care. He is still within the walls of Pinehearst. He still has the chance to bring his father down.

And Peter is alive.

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More soon.


	2. chapter 2

**Strangers to Brothers, Chapter Two**

There are some parts of the future he has seen that Peter is okay with.

He isn't okay with the fact that Claire, he wonderful little niece, killed his future self.

He isn't okay with the fact that he killed his brother.

He isn't okay with all the death.

He isn't okay with the fact that anyone can buy synthetic powers.

He isn't okay with the fact that everything in the future is backwards and upside down.

Everyone he was ever close to was either dead or evil.

But there are a few things that he is okay with.

Like Sylar – Gabriel – wearing that damn apron and making breakfast for his kid.

The Mr. Mom visual always brings a smile to his face, regardless of what is going on around him.

It is an amusing thought, after all.

It freaks him out a little bit, when he first realizes how close his future self had become with Sylar – Gabriel. His name was Gabriel.

But he realizes that this Gabriel is different. He has control and he doesn't let the hunger consume him.

This is not Sylar.

This is Gabriel.

This is his brother.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A tad Gabriel/Elle in this chapter._**

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Gabriel doesn't stop her when she attacks him.

He could have. Easily. It wouldn't have taken any effort at all to bring her down.

But he doesn't.

He lets her fry his insides with her electricity.

He can feel his clothes burning away from his skin, then his skin burning away from his bones.

She stops for a moment and screams at him as the skin grows back, almost as quickly as it left.

But then she starts again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

But he doesn't stop her.

Because Gabriel knows that Sylar needs the punishment.

Peter had told him that their father was evil, insane, etc.

Gabriel had no reason to doubt him, so he didn't.

But he hadn't realized just how far gone Arthur Petrelli was.

Not until he was pushed into the large, cold cell of an unknown prisoner.

The idea that he was capable of empathy was foreign to him.

Yes, he had saved Peter.

But Peter was his brother.

His brother.

How crazy was that?

Sometimes, when he thinks about it, he wonders if it's even real.

The epitome of good and the epitome of evil are brothers. How ironic.

Arthur Petrelli had faith in him, which in itself was insane. But he believed in him, simply because he's saved his brother.

But it was his brother.

Saving a brother and saving a stranger are two completely different things.

And he isn't sure he can do the latter.

But when he does, when he reaches out to the girl he's done nothing but hurt, and he saves her from herself…

He couldn't have been happier.

Because he realizes that, by saving her, he's come a little bit closer to saving himself.

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**_Okay, I know there are people reading this (last I checked, six people had it on their alert list). Give me reviews. Make me feel loved. Or I could just stop writing altogether. That would be sad._**


	4. Chapter 4

**_You guys make me smile : )_

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**Strangers to Brothers Chapter Four**

Peter isn't sure where he is. He knows he's running and that's all that really matters.

He hates not having his powers.

He hates not having Claire's power. There are scrapes up and down his face and chest and they hurt and he knows they won't be healing for a long time and it's a weird feeling.

He hates not having Hiro's or Nathan's power. He is running as fast and hard as he can, when a few days ago he could have just teleported himself anywhere he wanted, or flown away from his rival.

He hates not having Claude's invisibility, because damn it was useful.

He hates not having Flint's fire and Elle's lightning and the telekinesis he borrowed from Sylar who stole it from whoever, because he really needs his offensive powers.

He promises himself that, if he ever gets his powers back, he'll teach himself not to rely so much on them.

And if he doesn't get them back, he's fairly certain he'll be dead anyway, so it won't really matter.

He can hear Flint and Knox closing in on him and he knows it will all be over soon.

All he can do is be grateful for the good that has come in the past few hours.

His mother is awake, Parkman had saved her.

Nathan has realized that their father is a psychotic bastard hell bent on world domination.

They now know what exactly Arthur Petrelli is after and they know how to stop him from finding her.

He laughs when Knox tackles him to the ground. He knows he can't win, but he also knows that Knox has no power if Peter does not fear him.

But flint still has his fire.


	5. Chapter 5

**Strangers to Brothers 5/6**

When Gabriel enters his father's office, three things become clear to him.

One, his father never really expected him be able to help Elle.

Two, he is extremely pissed about something, thought Gabriel isn't sure what.

And three, Peter is in the building.

"You did it," Arthur commented.

"What is wrong?" he asks, pretending he doesn't sense these things.

"We are having trouble with one of the experiments we are running on level six." Gabriel knows that this is only part of the truth and that his father is, once again, hiding something.

At that moment, the phone on his desk begins to ring. He takes three large strides across the room to answer it.

Gabriel walks toward the window as his father caries on a short conversation with the woman on the other line. He can hear each word she says with perfect clarity, as though she is standing in the room next to him, but he pretends not to hear a word.

"I have to go take care of something," Arthur informs him. "Stay here."

Gabriel nods and waits several moments, until he knows his father has entered the elevator, before exiting the room.

He never was good at following orders.


	6. Chapter 6

**Strangers to Brothers 6/6**

The ground beneath him is cold. The shackles around his wrists and ankles are tight and constricting. The air around him is stale and still.

But all he does is lie there. There is no escaping, there is no fighting.

It feels like he's been there forever, but he knows it's only been a few hours. Knox had beat him around a bit before his father showed up to stop him.

He had only been in the room long enough to make sure he was fastened securely to the ground, before he left, Knox and Flint in tow. He had not returned.

Peter knew, he wasn't sure how, that Gabriel was still in the building. He wasn't sure if it was a good sign, or a bad one.

On the one hand, he was alive at least. Their father hadn't killed him.

On the other hand, he could be eating completely out of Arthur's hand, believing every word he said, doing everything he wanted.

He didn't want to believe that Gabriel was so easily manipulated, but he knew better than to get his hopes up. Arthur Petrelli was a master con man, and Sylar was an evil bastard.

But his isn't Sylar, Peter tells himself. It's Gabriel. They are not the same. Gabriel had saved his life. Sylar had tried to kill him.

They were not the same.

He has, more or less, given up. It isn't like him, but he doesn't see the point in fighting. He doesn't have super strength capable of releasing him from the shackles and he can't walk through walls, and even if he did manage to fin his way out of the room, it was futile. He would never make it passed the four guards standing outside the door, and an entire building of Pinehearst employees who were no doubt alerted to his presence and would not let him out of the building.

He doesn't bother to look up when the door opens what must have been days later. He knows who it is.

"Hello Sylar," he says. He has convinced himself that Gabriel was just an illusion. A trick. A moment of weakness in which the evil bastard had appeared good for a moment.

"Don't call me that," he replied, somewhat angrily.

"Gabriel?" Peter asks, looking up, slightly shocked.

"Sorry I didn't come sooner." Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. For a moment, their thoughts were on exactly the same page, each wonder just how delusional they were. He was sorry?

Gabriel retrieves a key from one of his pockets and unlocks the shackles. Peter wonders momentarily why he doesn't just use his telekinesis to unlock them, it would have been ten times easier.

"Figured it would be mean to use my powers when you don't have any," he says as though he'd read his brother's thoughts. "What happened to your leg?" he asked, helping him to his feet.

"Knox got a little pissed when he realized I wasn't afraid of him," he said as Gabriel wrapped an arm around his waist to help him walk.

"I'll kill him later. Let's get out of here."

Peter wasn't sure if the former statement was a joke or not, but given who he was talking to, he was pretty sure he could guess.

The End

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No, it's not actually over. Part two, Enemies to Brothers, will be put up in a day or two.

In the mean time...

REVIEW!!!


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